Tskhinvali — Tskhinvali is the capital of South Ossetia, a disputed region in Georgia. It has been recognised as an independent Republic by Russia and three other UN members, South Ossetia is a de facto independent state that controls its claimed territory, in part with the support of Russian troops. Despite this, it is recognised by all other UN members as part of Georgia and it is located on the Great Liakhvi River approximately kilometres northwest of the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The name of Tskhinvali is derived from the Old Georgian Krtskhinvali, from earlier Krtskhilvani, literally meaning the land of hornbeams, from to , the city was named Staliniri, after Joseph Stalin. Modern Ossetians call the city Tskhinval, the other Ossetian name of the city is Chreba, the area around the present-day Tskhinvali was first populated back in the Bronze Age. The unearthed settlements and archaeological artifacts from that time are unique in that they reflect influences from both Iberian and Colchian cultures with possible Sarmatian elements, by the early 18th century, Tskhinvali was a small royal town populated chiefly by monastic serfs.

Tskhinvali was annexed to the Russian Empire along with the rest of eastern Georgia in , located on a trade route which linked North Caucasus to Tbilisi and Gori, Tskhinvali gradually developed into a commercial town with a mixed Jewish, Georgian, Armenian and Ossetian population. In the it had houses with The town saw clashes between Georgian Peoples Guard and pro-Bolshevik Ossetian peasants during the period, when Georgia gained brief independence from Russia. Soviet rule was established by the invading Red Army in March , subsequently, the town became largely Ossetian due to intense urbanisation and Soviet Korenizatsiya policy which induced an inflow of the Ossetians from the nearby rural areas into Tskhinvali.

According to the last Soviet census, Tskhinvali had a population of 42,, during the acute phase of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, Tskhinvali was a scene of ethnic tensions and ensuing armed confrontation between Georgian and Ossetian forces. At 8,00 am on 1 August, a Georgian police vehicle was blown up by an explosive device on the road near Tskhinvali. In response, Georgian snipers assaulted some of the South Ossetian border checkpoints, killing four Ossetians, Ossetian separatists began intensively shelling Georgian villages on 1 August, with a sporadic response from Georgian peacekeepers and other troops in the region.

The Russian deputy defence minister, Nikolay Pankov, had a meeting with the separatist authorities in Tskhinvali on 3 August. An evacuation of Ossetian women and children to Russia began on the same day, on 5 August, Georgian authorities organised a tour for journalists and diplomats to demonstrate the damage supposedly caused by separatists. That day, Russian Ambassador-at-Large Yuri Popov declared that his country would intervene on the side of South Ossetia, the destruction of the village of Nuli was ordered by South Ossetian interior minister Mindzaev 2.

Georgia national rugby union team — The Georgia national rugby union team nicknamed The Lelos or Men of Borjgali represents Georgia in international rugby union. Rugby union in Georgia is administered by the Georgian Rugby Union, the team takes part in the annual Rugby Europe Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years.

Georgia is currently considered a second rugby union nation and is one of the worlds fastest growing rugby nations. The Lelos participate in the Rugby Europe Championship, winning the tournament in ,,,,,,, and seasons, the bulk of the national squad are based in France, in both the Top 14 and lower divisions.

This is a practice that was popularized by former team coach, Claude Saurel. Rugby is one of the most popular sports in Georgia, the national team qualified for the Rugby World Cup four times, first in — playing against rugby powers such as England and South Africa.

Since , Georgia has hosted the World Rugby Tbilisi Cup, there were unsuccessful attempts to introduce rugby union into Georgia in and also in and in Rugbys popularity in Georgia might be explained by its resemblance to the traditional Georgian game named Lelo or Lelo Burti and this game was played in Georgia from ancient times and is still played on occasions in rural areas.

A field was selected between two creeks which represented a playing ground. Two teams, usually consisting of the population of neighboring villages.

The number of players each side was not set. A large, heavy ball was placed in the middle of the field, the first teams appeared in The Georgia Rugby Union was founded in , but until the late s it was part of the Soviet Unions rugby federation, the rugby union connection between France and Georgia started as links were established by the then powerful French Communist Party and many other left-wing organisations.

Georgia initially did not have its own team and its best players would play for the USSR team, in Georgia produced their first national sevens side. In September , Georgia got together with other FIRA countries to host a tour by Zimbabwe, zimbabwes first match on the tour was in the wet against Georgia in Kutaisi, west of Tbilisi, which Georgia won 16—3.

The next year Georgia went to Zimbabwe where they played two tests, losing the first in Bulawayo and winning the second 26—10 in Harare, on 9 April Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union. Georgia was now a rugby union nation but getting matches was not easy, Georgia were limited to the odd game against Ukraine until they gained membership of the World Rugby in 3.

Poland — Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is , square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe.

With a population of over The Kingdom of Poland was founded in , and in it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish—Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic.

More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in During the Revolutions of Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic.

Since the early s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy.

Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between and According to the Global Peace Index for , Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole.

In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD.

France — France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. France spans , square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris.

The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until , France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation.

During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe.

Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in Following liberation in , a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic.

France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity.

In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state.

It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. Tbilisi — Tbilisi, commonly known by its former name Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of roughly 1. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgias ancient precursor the Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics.

Under Russian rule, from to Tiflis was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire Caucasus. Tbilisis varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, Middle Eastern, Art Nouveau, historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though it is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian.

Archaeological studies of the region have indicated human settlement in the territory of Tbilisi as early as the 4th millennium BC, according to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisis founding states that King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia went hunting in the wooded region with a falcon.

The Kings falcon allegedly caught or injured a pheasant during the hunt, King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name Tbilisi derives from Old Georgian Tbilisi, and further from Tpili, the name Tbili or Tbilisi was therefore given to the city because of the areas numerous sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground.

King Dachi I Ujarmeli, who was the successor of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and did not include the territory of Colchis.

During his reign, King Dachi I oversaw the construction of the wall that lined the citys new boundaries. From the 6th century, Tbilisi grew at a steady pace due to the favourable and strategic location which placed the city along important trade.

After this point, the Arabs established an emirate centered in Tbilisi, in , Tbilisi, still under Arab control was once again sacked by the Khazars. In , the armies of Arab leader Bugha Al-Turki invaded Tbilisi in order to enforce its return to Abbasid allegiance, the Arab domination of Tbilisi continued until about In , after fighting with the Seljuks that involved at least 60, Georgians and up to , Turks.

The International Rugby Board selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan, the tournament was won by New Zealand, who defeated France 8—7 in the final. The defending champions, South Africa, were eliminated by Australia 11—9 in the quarter-finals, the result marked the third time that the tournament was won by the country that hosted the event.

It was the largest sporting event ever held in New Zealand, eclipsing the Rugby World Cup, Commonwealth Games, Cricket World Cup, overseas visitors to New Zealand for the event totalled ,, more than the 95, that the organisers expected.

However, there was a drop in non-event visitors, meaning the net increase in visitors over the year was less than 80, The games ran over six weeks, commencing on 9 September with the Opening Ceremony showcasing New Zealands history, the final was played on Sunday 23 October , a date chosen because it fell on a long weekend of New Zealands Labour Day holiday.

The final was played at Eden Park in Auckland, after speculation that the number of participating teams would be reduced to 16, the IRB announced on 30 November that the tournament would again feature 20 teams. Twelve teams qualified as a result of finishing in the top three in each pool in the tournament, the remaining eight berths were determined by regional qualifying tournaments.

South Africa had hosted the tournament in , the South African bid, led by former national captain Francois Pienaar, had strong support from their national government. Concerns were raised about the process of upgrading Eden Park to expand the capacity to the 60, required by the IRB.

In late Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully said the remaining consent process might need to be overridden by legislation for the work to be completed on time. The construction of Dunedins Forsyth Barr Stadium, known during the tournament as Otago Stadium, was a source of concern as the project was operating in a time frame.

If the project had not been completed on time, organisers would have reverted to Carisbrook as the backup option, Forsyth Barr Stadium was officially opened on 6 August 7. Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic — Georgia, formally the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, also commonly known as Soviet Georgia was one of the republics of the Soviet Union from its inception in to its breakup in The Socialist Soviet Republic of Georgia was established on February 25,, on March 2 of the following year the first constitution of Soviet Georgia was accepted.

The country contributed almost , fighters to the Red Army and he abolished their respective autonomous republics. The Georgian SSR was briefly granted some of their territory until , the decentralisation program introduced by Khrushchev in the mids was soon exploited by Georgian Communist Party officials to build their own regional power base.

A thriving pseudo-capitalist shadow economy emerged alongside the official state-owned economy, corruption was at a high level. Among all the republics, Georgia had the highest number of residents with high or special secondary education.

Although corruption was hardly unknown in the Soviet Union, it became so widespread, shevardnadze ascended to the post of First Secretary with the blessings of Moscow. He was an effective and able ruler of Georgia from to , improving the official economy, Soviet power and Georgian nationalism clashed in when Moscow ordered revision of the constitutional status of the Georgian language as Georgias official state language. Bowing to pressure from street demonstrations on April 14, April 14 was established as a Day of the Georgian Language, on April 9,, Soviet troops were used to break up a peaceful demonstration at the government building in Tbilisi.